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FIGHTER SPOTLIGHT | XU CAN

Coming into the bout a couple of weeks ago Xu Can was considered an underdog by those who were unfamiliar with the 24-Year old who hails from east China’s Jiangxi Province.

Birth Name

徐灿

Alias

Monster

Born

09-03-1994

Nationality

China

Debut

16-11-2013

Division

Featherweight

Stance

Orthodox

Height

5’9

Reach

69

Residence

Kunming, China

Birth Place

Suzhou, China

The son of Pastry making parents, Xu was encouraged to box by his father who sought out a boxing gym after the youngster dropped out of junior high school after three years, Zhongwei professional boxing club at the time was the only one of its type in China, situated in Kunming of the Yunnan Province in southwestern China.

Xu would train for four hours, six times a week but due to the monotonous regime he often found boredom creeping in, still, he managed to grudgingly stick with the plan and in 2013 all the hard work paid off in the realisation of the dream of entering the professional ranks.

Tang Yuan Yuan was the opponent selected for the foray as he dipped his toe into the paid ranks, both who at the time were debuting but it was Can who was able to gain victory via decision.

He beat another debutant in his second contest again via decision this time in Kota Hamamoto of Japan before coming unstuck when facing Neeraj Goyat in his third encounter.

A win and a loss followed before a change in fortune witnessed him go on a run of twelve straight victories, winning the WBA Oceania super lightweight crown in his decision over Australia’s Kris George in 2015, before also taking the title at Super featherweight in his next fight against Chaiyong Chanthahong.

Two defences followed before a win over Ramiro Blanco of Nicaragua added to his collection the WBA international super featherweight title on September 30 in 2016.

He defended that title on two occasions before a drop down in weight class gained him the WBA international featherweight title in his biggest win to date before Rojas in former world champion Nehomar Cermeno.

The decision to move back down to featherweight was made with careful consideration, coming to the conclusion that there were better opportunities to become a world champion at that particular weight limit.

They were most certainly right, as Xu Can took his place amongst the divisions elite, coming through a dogfight and early candidate for a fight of the year with the now former world champion Jesus Rojas to take the WBA crown via unanimous decision.

Check out what the fight meant to China’s newest world champion below:

Photo Courtesy of Tom Hogan / Goldenboy Promotions

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